Steps to construct a thesis statement: -Narrow the focus of your main idea -Draft a working thesis statement to guide you as you write the paper; you can refine the language later. -Create a thesis that will be interesting and enlightening to your audience. -Keep your thesis statement visible as you work. -Organize the body of your paper so that topic sentences support the thesis. -When the first draft is completed, revise your thesis statement to make it as sharp, specific, and focused as possible.Choose vivid language and active verbs. Checklist after completing the thesis statement: -Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic. -Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper. -Is focused and specific enough to be "proven" within the boundaries of your paper. -Is generally located near the end of the introduction; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph. -Identifies the relationship between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.
The premises of the argument: -Must fit together to construct a logical reason for belief in the conclusion -Cannot rely on the acceptance of the conclusion without the logical support they provide Relevance of the argument: -Argument made is a logical statement, and not an appeal to emotion, force, tradition, etc. Accepting an argument: an argument is acknowledged if it is… -A matter of common knowledge -Confirmed by one’s own personal experience or observation -Adequately defended in an accessible source or existing argument -An uncontroverted eyewitness or personal testimony -An uncontroverted claim from a relevant authority -A minor claim that is supported by the argument’s context -Supported by statistics and data Making arguments stronger: -Attack your weakest link before someone else does -Remove as much controversy as possible -Do not make a claim unless necessary èSupport all claims made with acceptable premises -Be as clear and straightforward as possible -Be honest about the argument’s weaknesses -Remove vague or confusing language -Remove premises and sub-premises that do not matter -Make your deductive process explicit -Avoid fallacies After we have read the guidelines, here are some tips which will benefit us:
Key indicator words of a conclusion: but
proves that
consequently
shows that
hence
so
indicates that
suggests that
in fact
the most obvious explanation is
in short
the point I'm trying to make
it follows that
therefore
it is highly probable that
the truth of the matter is
it should be clear that
thus
points to the conclusion that
we may deduce that
Key indicator words of a premise: also
for the reason that
as a result of
in addition
because of the fact that
in view of
first, ..., second
is supported by
for
researchers found that
for example
since the evidence is for one think
Lesson Two Writing topic: Gm Food – boon or bane?
Research and Planning progress I will be writing an introductory paragraph in order to apply some of the skills learnt in “Lesson One – Part A: Thesis statement”. Therefore, I will need to look at some research done before deciding the scope of my essay.
The genetics war has broken out. The clash is most intense in Europe, where public concern about GM food is higher than in other parts of the world. Making a big splash in the news lately, the highly controversial debate over the harmful long-term effects of GM food has caused much apprehension among consumers despite pro-GM groups repeatedly claim that GM food is safe to consume. GM food is a bane because it has damaging effects on ecology, unforeseeable adverse health impacts on man and not sustainable.
Revised Paragraph:
The genetics war has broken out, making a big splash in the news lately. This clash is most intense in Europe, where public concern about GM food is higher than in other parts of the world. The highly controversial debate over the harmful long-term effects of GM food has caused much apprehension among consumers, despite pro-GM groups repeatedly claim that GM food is safe to consume. I believe that GM food is bane because it has damaging effects on ecology, an unsustainable method of providing food, and has unforeseeable adverse health impacts on man.
Continuing the production of GM food might devastate the Earth’s ecology, bringing more harm than intended good for the world’s population. GM food producers advocated that the new technology is going to be the lifesaver of developing countries such as India, as they can solve food shortages by producing large amount of quality food with less cost and shorter time. However, this good intention might not match the real life scenario as this mass production would destroy and upset the Earth’s ecology. An Australian survey showed that only 45% of the country’s population will accept GM food due to the risk it contains, following a group of British researchers who demonstrated that genetically modified DNA from crops can find its way into human gut bacteria, raising possible health concerns. Therefore, GM food might not necessarily be the world’s “lifesaver”. Another example, Prodigene Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, was fined by the USDA for allowing corn that was genetically engineered to produce a pig vaccine to contaminate 500,000 bushels of soybeans in Nebraska. Reports stated that this was merely an oversight that some stray corn seeds got left out in the field in which it was grown, germinated in the field and got harvested together with soybeans planted in the same field the next season. One shipment of such corn got into the human food chain through a fast food outlet, raising red flags throughout the industry and consumer action groups.Therefore, this example proves that a slight human error might lead to devastating consequences – contaminating the food chain might lead to unthinkable cost which would be impossible to salvage. In view of such risk GM food entails, GM food is a bane with its potential ecological threat.
I am going to concentrate on learning how to craft a thesis statement and present a clear argument.
Part A: Thesis statement
Some recommended readings:
http://www.rrcc.edu/writing/topic-thesis.html
http://www.camlang.com/sp004.htm
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic/thesis.htm
I have summarized the above websites into 2 categories: steps to construct a thesis statement and a checklist after completing the thesis statement.
Steps to construct a thesis statement:
- Narrow the focus of your main idea
- Draft a working thesis statement to guide you as you write the paper; you can refine the language later.
- Create a thesis that will be interesting and enlightening to your audience.
- Keep your thesis statement visible as you work.
- Organize the body of your paper so that topic sentences support the thesis.
- When the first draft is completed, revise your thesis statement to make it as sharp, specific, and focused as possible. Choose vivid language and active verbs.
Checklist after completing the thesis statement:
- Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic.
- Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper.
- Is focused and specific enough to be "proven" within the boundaries of your paper.
- Is generally located near the end of the introduction; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
- Identifies the relationship between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.
Part B: Presenting a clear argument
Some recommended readings:
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/staylor/critical_thinking/argument_identification.htm
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:83eUmYBqRNEJ:www.cog-sys.com/hannon/teaching/CITE30533/lectures/AFRch03-04.ppt+Clear+argumentation+(setting+out+premises+and+conclusions+in+a+logical+flow)&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk
I have researched on the points to note when presenting an argument and this will be helpful for my classmates and me.
The premises of the argument:
- Must fit together to construct a logical reason for belief in the conclusion
- Cannot rely on the acceptance of the conclusion without the logical support they provide
Relevance of the argument:
- Argument made is a logical statement, and not an appeal to emotion, force, tradition, etc.
Accepting an argument: an argument is acknowledged if it is…
- A matter of common knowledge
- Confirmed by one’s own personal experience or observation
- Adequately defended in an accessible source or existing argument
- An uncontroverted eyewitness or personal testimony
- An uncontroverted claim from a relevant authority
- A minor claim that is supported by the argument’s context
- Supported by statistics and data
Making arguments stronger:
- Attack your weakest link before someone else does
- Remove as much controversy as possible
- Do not make a claim unless necessary
è Support all claims made with acceptable premises
- Be as clear and straightforward as possible
- Be honest about the argument’s weaknesses
- Remove vague or confusing language
- Remove premises and sub-premises that do not matter
- Make your deductive process explicit
- Avoid fallacies
After we have read the guidelines, here are some tips which will benefit us:
Key indicator words of a conclusion:
but
proves that
consequently
shows that
hence
so
indicates that
suggests that
in fact
the most obvious explanation is
in short
the point I'm trying to make
it follows that
therefore
it is highly probable that
the truth of the matter is
it should be clear that
thus
points to the conclusion that
we may deduce that
Key indicator words of a premise:
also
for the reason that
as a result of
in addition
because of the fact that
in view of
first, ..., second
is supported by
for
researchers found that
for example
since the evidence is
for one think
Lesson Two
Writing topic: Gm Food – boon or bane?
Research and Planning progress
I will be writing an introductory paragraph in order to apply some of the skills learnt in “Lesson One – Part A: Thesis statement”. Therefore, I will need to look at some research done before deciding the scope of my essay.
Here are some of the websites I have visited:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_7_127/ai_61764162/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_food_controversy
The genetics war has broken out. The clash is most intense in Europe, where public concern about GM food is higher than in other parts of the world. Making a big splash in the news lately, the highly controversial debate over the harmful long-term effects of GM food has caused much apprehension among consumers despite pro-GM groups repeatedly claim that GM food is safe to consume. GM food is a bane because it has damaging effects on ecology, unforeseeable adverse health impacts on man and not sustainable.
Revised Paragraph:
The genetics war has broken out, making a big splash in the news lately. This clash is most intense in Europe, where public concern about GM food is higher than in other parts of the world. The highly controversial debate over the harmful long-term effects of GM food has caused much apprehension among consumers, despite pro-GM groups repeatedly claim that GM food is safe to consume. I believe that GM food is bane because it has damaging effects on ecology, an unsustainable method of providing food, and has unforeseeable adverse health impacts on man.
Continuing the production of GM food might devastate the Earth’s ecology, bringing more harm than intended good for the world’s population. GM food producers advocated that the new technology is going to be the lifesaver of developing countries such as India, as they can solve food shortages by producing large amount of quality food with less cost and shorter time. However, this good intention might not match the real life scenario as this mass production would destroy and upset the Earth’s ecology. An Australian survey showed that only 45% of the country’s population will accept GM food due to the risk it contains, following a group of British researchers who demonstrated that genetically modified DNA from crops can find its way into human gut bacteria, raising possible health concerns. Therefore, GM food might not necessarily be the world’s “lifesaver”. Another example, Prodigene Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, was fined by the USDA for allowing corn that was genetically engineered to produce a pig vaccine to contaminate 500,000 bushels of soybeans in Nebraska. Reports stated that this was merely an oversight that some stray corn seeds got left out in the field in which it was grown, germinated in the field and got harvested together with soybeans planted in the same field the next season. One shipment of such corn got into the human food chain through a fast food outlet, raising red flags throughout the industry and consumer action groups. Therefore, this example proves that a slight human error might lead to devastating consequences – contaminating the food chain might lead to unthinkable cost which would be impossible to salvage. In view of such risk GM food entails, GM food is a bane with its potential ecological threat.